A man suspected of mugging U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in the Caribbean country of Saint Kitts and Nevis earlier this month has been arrested, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

Vedel Browne, 28, turned himself in over the weekend.

He is believed to have been masked and wielding a machete when he stole $1,200 from Breyer, his wife and guests at their home.

Browne, a painter and gardener, was charged with the robbery, which took place on the island of Nevis, where Breyer and his wife have a home. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Justice Breyer was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

A sheriff has stepped down as Arizona co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he previously had a homosexual relationship.

At a press conference Saturday outside his office in Florence, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu called the man’s allegations, published Thursday in a Phoenix New Times story, “completely false.”

He said the only information mentioned in the article that’s true is “I’m gay”, The Arizona Republic reported.

Babeu, who is also running for Congress in Arizona’s new 4th Congressional District, quit his position as Romney’s Arizona co-chairman but vowed to stay in the congressional campaign.

“Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told The Arizona Republic in a statement. “We support his decision.”

Babeu, who was elected in 2008 as the first Republican sheriff of Pinal County, has gained national media attention for speaking out against illegal immigration and the unsecured U.S. border with Mexico.

The Arizona police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man while he held his baby grandson has been involved in at least five previous fatal shootings, police said.

The officer, James Peters of the Scottsdale police, was on administrative leave Thursday after he killed John Loxas, 50, with a single rifle shot to the head Tuesday. Loxas’ 9-month-old grandson, who was in his arms, was unhurt.

“There were at least three officers in position to engage the suspect,” Sgt. Mark Clark, a spokesman for the Scottsdale police, told NBC station KPNX of Phoenix. “At least one of the officers thought he saw something in the suspect’s hands.”

KPNX reported that Peters has now been involved in seven shootings in the past 10 years, six of them fatal. The Arizona Republic reported Thursday that the city of Scottsdale agreed to a $75,000 settlement in 2009 with the family of one of the people Peters had killed; the city denied liability.

New Times, a Phoenix alternative weekly, profiled Peters in 2010 under the headline “‘Dirty Harry’ in Scottsdale? Badass Cop Bags Four Bad Guys in 10-Year Career.”

Police said that as a former member of the SWAT team, Peters had been involved in the department’s most dangerous assignments and that all of the previous shootings had been found to be justified.

In the incident Tuesday, police were called to Loxas’ home after a call to 911 reported that he had kicked over a trash can and threatened the owner when he complained. The caller said Loxas was walking around the neighborhood with his grandson and a weapon.

“We have a neighbor out here that pulled a gun on us,” the caller said. “He’s got a baby in his arms. He’s got a gun, and he cocked it.”

Loxas had returned home by the time police arrived, and he answered the door with the baby in his arms. Peters and another officer told investigators they saw something in Loxas’ hand, and when he turned, Peters fired a single shot, killing Loxas instantaneously.

Afterward, detectives determined that Loxas wasn’t armed. But they did find several weapons in the home, KPNX reported.

From www.wtov9.com, February 15, 2012

Jefferson County, Ohio -

A Rayland man had the opportunity to meet several of the people who helped to save his life.

John Courtright, 43, shook the hands of Ohio State Highway Patrol Troopers Robert Bodo, Eric Derrington and Greg Mamula on Wednesday night.

“It makes me feel good that I was able to meet them and let them know I’m thankful for everything they did for me,” said Courtright.

Two weeks ago, Courtright was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack along the side of U.S. Route 22 in Jefferson County.

NEWS9 showed him the video from start to finish of the dramatic rescue that saved his life.

Bodo was on routine patrol at about 3:15 p.m. Feb. 1 when he spotted a car on the side of U.S. Route 22 near Bloomingdale. Bodo thought the car was abandoned, but when he walked around to the driver’s side, Bodo found a man who appeared to be sleeping.

“When he said he had chest pains and he did state that he had prior heart attacks in the past, my first thought was that he needed help,” said Bodo.

After Bodo called for assistance, he went back to check on Courtright, who was then unresponsive.

“I saw him take a couple of short gasps for air,  and then he didn’t respond to anything I said.  He then just slumped over into the chair,” said Bodo.

With an ambulance still a few minutes away, Bodo took matters into his own hands.

Bodo took a defibrillator from the trunk of his patrol car, checked Courtright’s breathing, pulled him from the car and started CPR. A passer-by then stopped to help Bodo with the CPR.

“He ran across all four lanes of 22 and just asked if he could help, and I said yes.  He started doing compression while I set up the AED,”said Bodo.

Courtright kept going in and out of consciousness, and that is when Derrington and Mamula also assisted with the rescue.

“We knew exactly what to do.  We’ve been trained in this situation and saw Trooper Bodo doing CPR,  and we knew we had to hook up the AED,” said Mamula.

“It had to be speed and it had to be our training kicking in.  Otherwise, it wasn’t going to work out, and we didn’t know if it was going to work out,” said Derrington.

The ambulance then arrived, and crews transported Courtright to Trinity Medical Center.

Bodo and the others who helped save Courtright are expected to receive a Certificate of Recognition for their efforts.

To watch a video report about this story use the link below:

www.wtov9.com/news/news/local/heart-attack-victim-meets-trooper-who-saved-his-li/nH6Q5/

ORLANDO, Fla. —

Jurors heard more testimony Wednesday in the trial of one of three people accused in a violent home invasion and kidnapping, in Winter Garden.

A father, who was held hostage for two days, took the stand.

He said he was convinced he, his wife and son were going to be killed, because they saw their kidnappers’ faces.

He said he spent most of the two days tied up with a shirt over his head, but he said the worst part was the Russian roulette.

Reubens Morais said the kidnappers played Russian roulette with him, and his five-year-old autistic son.

Morais speaks Portuguese. An interpreter helped him tell the jury his story.

“When he put the gun in my mouth, it went down to my throat,” Morais said in court.

He said he was taped to this armchair all day with a black shirt over his head, constantly hearing that his pregnant wife and his son would be killed if he didn’t give the intruders $200,000 from his trucking business.

Morais said that after his wife threatened a female kidnapper with a kitchen knife, he heard them pistol whipping her in another room.

“I heard what sounded like someone hitting somebody, or smacking somebody. I heard that, and Marcela was crying,” he said.

Morais said he hugged and consoled his son, and they hit him on the head so hard he blacked out. He said he didn’t come to until the police rescued him.

Help came after his wife Marcela jumped backwards out of a second story window and ran to the next door neighbor’s house.

Manuel Perez, a Winter Garden Public Works employee, saw defendant Victor Sanchez and another defendant run and jump over the fence.

“Did you go over the fence?” a prosecutor asked Perez.

“I try. I try. I don’t know why, but I try. I scratch my knees,” said Perez

Sanchez claims he was forced by the others to get involved in the kidnapping.  But WFTV has been told that on Thursday, the jury will hear his confession to police.

If Sanchez is convicted, he faces life in prison.

BURKE CO., N.C. —

From The Denver Post by Nancy Loftholm, February 12, 2012

The 100 or so sheriffs gathered in a Las Vegas hotel ballroom two weeks ago learned that some weighty titles have been attached to the stars they wear on their chests.

“Ultimate enforcers of the Constitution.” “Protectors against government tyranny.” “America’s last hope.” “Brave oath keepers.”

And the Sheriffs, including eight from Colorado, learned that they need to protect their citizenry from much more than local lawbreakers. In today’s world, public enemy No. 1 just might be the federal government — or the “out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” as organizers of the convention like to refer to it.

The person who will “stand tall against federal tyranny,” even if it means armed resistance, according to organizers, is the County Sheriff.

The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association’s inaugural convention was designed to be the national coming-out for this idea and the start of an educational movement that its founder hopes will sweep the country. Its sponsors included the John Birch Society, the Gun Owners of America and the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. Advertisers included survivalist businesses, anti-IRS proponents, purveyors of gold-buying secrets and one company that sells a guide, “How to Turn Your Home into a Fortress.”

“We have a large group of people in my county who agree with these principles,” said Weld County Sheriff John Cook, explaining why he attended the conference. “I agree with a lot of it. But I don’t advocate, obviously, violence against other law enforcement offices.”

The conference was organized by former Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack. Mack gained fame in the 1990s and became a Tea Party darling when he and six other Sheriffs challenged the constitutionality of the gun-control measure commonly known as the Brady Bill. In a case that went to the Supreme Court, Mack’s attorneys successfully argued that local law enforcement jurisdictions can’t be compelled to carry out federally mandated background checks. It was seen as a huge victory for the sovereignty of local jurisdictions.

Three years ago, Mack wrote a book, “The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope.” In it, he asserted that Sheriffs have the supreme law enforcement power in their counties under the Constitution and the 10th Amendment. Much of what federal agents are doing in counties is unconstitutional, he wrote. Federal agents have no authority beyond policing treason, piracy, treaty violations and counterfeiting.

Thus, the scofflaws that Sheriffs might encounter today — and who should be run out of town by a SWAT team, if that’s what it takes — include agents for the U.S. Forest Service; the Bureau of Land Management; the IRS; the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Environmental Protection Agency; and even the Food and Drug Administration.

Online Constitutional Sheriffs materials state, “The Sheriff’s position overrides any federal agents or even the arrogant FBI agents who attempt to assume jurisdiction in our cases.”

Colorado had the largest representation at this convention, along with California and Utah.

“I think Sheriffs went because they just wanted to be informed about what is expected of a sheriff,” said Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell. “I know I want to make sure the federal government does what it’s supposed to do and doesn’t encroach on the rights of my citizens.

“As for that making us radicals, I don’t see that.”

Some Colorado Sheriffs, like Spruell, said they went because they believe in much of what the Constitutional Sheriffs group espouses. They stressed that, at the same time, they have mostly good working relations with law enforcement officers from federal agencies that operate in their counties.

“I have good cooperation with federal agents. I have no problems with them,” said Montrose County Sheriff Rick Dunlap. “The feds always contact me when they are doing something in my county.”

Some Sheriffs were simply curious about Mack’s teachings and hoped to learn something about the group. Others said they felt they should go because they have a lot of conservative, right-wing constituents who believe in what was taught in Las Vegas.

In some cases, those constituents donated the money to send their Sheriffs. Some pestered the Sheriffs about going — something that doesn’t happen when the meeting is, say, a mainstream gathering of the County Sheriffs of Colorado.

“It was odd. Two people came to the window out front to ask if I was going,” Weld County’s Cook said.

Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey was one Sheriff who didn’t receive an invitation to the convention and was a little uncomfortable with the idea of constituents raising money to send Sheriffs to it. He also was unhappy with the impression some Sheriffs had that if they didn’t go, their conservative voters would try to oust them in the next election.

“I have a lot of respect for the Constitution and for its framework of keeping our people safe,” he said. “But Sheriffs should not be strong-armed into going to something like this.”

Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado, said of the convention: “We didn’t endorse it or authorize it. It was an individual Sheriff’s decision.”

Mack, who still refers to himself as “Sheriff Mack” and is currently running as a Republican for a congressional seat in Texas, said his organization didn’t pressure any Sheriffs. In a phone interview, he also said that his movement may come across sounding bellicose, but he is really promoting peace.

“The potential for violence is always there. But I pray it won’t come to that. We don’t want that,” Mack said.

Some of the speakers at the convention did tell of confrontations that involved the threat of officers for different agencies trying to arrest each other. The use of force was not ruled out.

Elkhart County, Ind., Sheriff Brad Rogers told of chasing federal regulators out of his county after they repeatedly did inspections at an Amish dairy farm that was selling raw milk. He threatened to arrest the regulators if they tried to come back.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo of Nye County, Nev., recounted how he had to threaten to bring out his SWAT team to go up against a federal government SWAT team when federal agents were seizing cattle from a local rancher.

Sheriff Dave Mattis of Big Horn County, Wyo., told the conference about the edict he has issued in his county. Federal agents are forbidden to enter his territory without his approval.

El Paso County Commissioner Peggy Littleton, who attended with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, gave a presentation that took another tack. She told how her county recently passed a resolution to nullify the National Defense Authorization Act. She urged other counties to do the same.

Fear that this act gives the federal government the power to arrest and detain citizens without filing charges or seeking convictions is another issue that garners a lot of attention on websites associated with the Constitutional Sheriffs group.

It also became a convention flash point when a speaker repeatedly called Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war, a “traitor” for supporting the Defense Authorization Act.

Montrose County’s Dunlap said he and several other Sheriffs “were ready to walk out at that point.”

Many of the presentations at the convention revolved around more common land-use disputes over road closures and hunting restrictions. Those were the stories that resonated most with Colorado Sheriffs who attended and who believe the federal government is overstepping its bounds on these issues.

Steven Hall, a spokesman for the BLM, said he doesn’t want to argue with Sheriffs about interpretations of the Constitution and federal jurisdiction on federal lands. He said that for the most part, his agency has good working relationships with Sheriffs, especially when it comes to issues such as fighting wildfires and eradicating marijuana.

“There has been some heated rhetoric but no serious incidents. I hope it remains that way,” he said.

Steve Segin, a spokesman for the Forest Service, issued a statement saying his agency has had “excellent working relationships” with Sheriffs in Colorado.

Several representatives for the FBI at the state and national level said they had not heard of the Constitutional Sheriffs movement. They declined to comment.

Mack said he is already planning a second convention for this summer, when he will continue to promote the idea that “the greatest threat to our freedom now is the federal government.”

“There is nothing subversive about any of this,” he said. “It’s as American as apple pie.”

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, his wife and several family friends were robbed by a person with a knife at the Breyer vacation home on the Caribbean island of Nevis, the court confirmed to NBC News on Monday.

The local St Kitts Nevis Observer newspaper described the attacker as wielding a machete.

About 9 p.m. ET last Thursday night, Justice Breyer, his wife and house-guests were robbed by one person, wearing a mask and wielding a knife, a court official said. The robber made off with about $1,000 in cash.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Previously filed financial disclosure forms as well as articles and tourist websites acknowledge that Justice Breyer is a regular vacationer to the island and has owned a home there for quite some time.

The Nevis Police Department is investigating and says there are no suspects or arrests at this time.

Local news reports as well as the police acknowledge other robberies and break-ins in the area around the same time.

It’s the third time in recent years that a Supreme Court justice has been a crime victim.

Back in 2004, Justice David Souter suffered minor injuries when he was mugged by a group of young men while jogging.

And in 1996, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had her purse snatched near the Kennedy Center while walking with her husband and daughter. She was not hurt in the incident.

Crime in the Carribbean, and partcularly on Nevis, has climbed dramatically in recent years, according to the United Nations.

Over the past year, Americans living on Nevis say they’ve had enough of the frequent home invasions.

One American expatriate, who no longer wants to be named because he says he’s been harassed by local officials, started his own crime-reporting service for people on the island, because residents claim police are inadequate.

Last year citizens met with police, and staged a rally, to try to call attention to the crime problem.

People are furious, according to NBC News. Some Americans who own properties on the island no longer want to retire there because of the crime — and they say the crime rate has lowered their property values.

Landis, NC — For those of you who don’t consider cheer-leading a sport or athletic pursuit, meet David, Dallus and Dakotah Lambert — the 3 D’s.

They will change your mind.

Dallus and Dakotah are cheerleaders for South Rowan High School. Since they were about 5 years old, they’ve been doing flips, tumbles, back-tucks, back-layouts and handsprings — all under the watchful eye of their dad, David, who happens to be a China Grove police officer.

Many cheerleaders in this area know David (and the girls) from the five-and-a-half years he and his wife, Kim, operated the 3D Flips gym, where the athletic moves that are a part of so many cheer routines today were practiced night after night.

David also served as den father and coach for weekend cheer events, when he would travel with his daughters, other gym rats and their parents to competitions across the region.

Lambert closed his gym after becoming a police officer in 2006.

Today he serves as resource officer at Jesse Carson High School, where cheerleaders sometimes practice outside his office. He offers a spot or advice here and there, when he is asked.

The same goes for the South Rowan High squad and, of course, Lambert is always available for 17-year-old Dallus and 14-year-old Dakotah if they want to practice certain moves and flips at home or church.

“My phone still rings to this day,” he says. “I miss coaching, but I’d rather be the assistant coach now.”

The “tumbling” has always come naturally to Lambert. As a senior at South Rowan High School — David and Kim graduated together in 1986 — he was teaching friends how to do a back handspring in the gymnasium one day when the cheer-leading coach, Julie Terry, asked if he might be interested in becoming one of the county’s first male cheerleaders.

Before he knew it, Lambert and some strong buddies of his found themselves cheering at basketball games.

“We had like nine guys who came off the football team,” he recalls.

At first, the guys drove themselves to the away games. But after they were accepted as part of the squad, they rode on the buses with everyone else.

In performing the various flips and hoisting and throwing girl cheerleaders in the air, Lambert says, “we did stuff back then that is highly illegal today,” describing how more safety is built into stunts and routines now.

His senior year of high school cheer-leading could have easily been the end of Lambert’s association with the sport.

It wasn’t until 2000, long after he was married and raising a family, that his preacher’s daughter, Terrin Brown, sought his help in doing some tumbling moves.

Lambert taught her on old karate mats at the church, and soon eight to 10 of Terrin’s friends were joining her, seeking Lambert’s help and instruction.

“I told my wife, ‘Maybe I can make something out of this,’ ” Lambert says.

Over the next half-dozen years, they would operate cheer gyms out of three locations.

First, they scraped together the mirrors, mats and spring floor and set up a gym above the K&W Cafeteria in Kannapolis.

The second location was in the old Belk Department Store building in China Grove. The Lamberts set up their last 3D Flips gym off N.C. 152.

Over the years, Lambert “worked every kind of job you can imagine,” he says, before devoting his evenings to the gym. In the beginning, he told himself, “I’ve got the girls, I’ve got the gym, but I just don’t have the know-how.”

He received important instructional help for his cheer gym from Amy Tyler, founder of the Greensboro All-Star Cheerleaders program, and he also “picked everybody’s brain I could think of,” Lambert says.

Lambert looks back on those days fondly. His whole family was together, working, practicing and running around the gym from the time school was out until 9 p.m.

“It was amazing the time we had,” he says.

Kim Lambert proved to be the gym’s backbone, doing the books and paperwork, keeping track of payments and making up the schedules.

“I had fun.” David says. “I had the good part, where I could play.”

Lambert says he started out with “pee-wees,” but that soon expanded to girls in middle school and high school. Girls who have cheered for Northwest Cabarrus, South Rowan, Carson, East Rowan and West Rowan were among the youngsters who trained in his gym.

Lambert usually has straightforward advice to cheerleaders, who sometimes have to get over the fear of performing certain moves. He tells them to use what they know and feed off the adrenaline, momentum and crowd noise.

For the girls, Dallus says, the testy moments with their father are usually borne of frustration.

“Frustration over something I know I can do, and it doesn’t work,” says Dallus, a junior who has been a varsity cheerleader for three years. “Both of us are crying and going back and forth.”

Dakotah is a freshman cheerleader on the varsity squad.

Cheer-leading can be dangerous, of course. Dallus dislocated her jaw during her freshman year when she caught a teammate’s elbow as she finished a routine. Cheerleaders often deal with broken fingers and arms, sprained knees and turned ankles.

David Lambert said cheerleading competitions are pressure packed, with the teams having, for example, 21/2 minutes to nail a perfect routine.

If college cheer-leading isn’t in the Lambert girls’ future, coaching might be. Dallus helped with Dakotah’s middle school team at Corriher-Lipe last year.

They come by the coaching part of it naturally.

When their father, David, is watching basketball games at Carson or South, he probably pays more attention during the timeouts, when the cheerleaders are performing.

“I still enjoy working with them,” Lambert says.